1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to incident responses. More specifically, it relates to providing vital information to first responders in helping formulate and implement a mitigation response plan.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Incident management describes actions taken to identify, analyze, and correct hazards that have occurred and to prevent re-occurrences of such hazards. These actions are taken by an incident response team, who prepare for and respond to an emergency incident. The goal is to handle the situation in a way that limits damage and reduces recovery time and costs. As such, incident response plans are prepared and include policies that describe what an incident is and the step-by-step process of responding to an incident.
To formulate and implement mitigation plans in response to the occurrence of a particular incident, such as a natural disaster or other emergency, an individual had to work with several paper copies of documents where notations were made over existing markers, or new copies had to be produced to make notations, as fresh data was obtained. This resulted in several problems, including confusion about the latest data versus stale data, delays in incident response due to printing and notating, tediousness of distributing paper copies to all involved agencies, delays in incident response due to different agencies tracking activities in a manner that first responders do not readily have the latest information, maintenance of several maps to deliver data pertinent to an agency, uncertainty over data accuracy due to extended data having to be pulled from several different sources and datasets and dependence on the dataset provider, and difficulties in training due to maintenance of paper copies being cumbersome and time-consuming.
From a technical standpoint, conventional computer-based technologies are incapable of formulating data-based mitigation plans in response to the occurrence of a particular incident or hazard as the appropriate server-client communication channels did not exist, along with a lack of an ability to display the assimilated data in overlaying fashion on a map or other diagram on which the incident is indicated. Typically, as noted, when an incident occurs, its response is formulated using paper documentation having markers and hypotheticals of what should be done and where as a response to the incident. This is inefficient, and an unconventional solution to this technical problem is sought herein.
Accordingly, what is needed is a computer-based system and methodology for formulating and implementing an incident response. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention how the shortcomings of the prior art could be overcome.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.